The Human Condition

In our reading today in Luke we saw many groups coming to Jesus trying to trip him up. One of those groups was the Saducees. They had a very clever question regarding a woman who was married to seven brothers one after the other, each dying without bearing a child. They wanted to know whose husband would she be in the resurrection. Of course, they really didn't want to know the answer because they didn't believe much in the supernatural and thought their question would be the one that showed Jesus as a fraud.
But, in His perfect manner, Jesus not only answers the question, but gets to the essence of why the Saducees even asked it. In a parellel passage to the one we read today, Jesus clearly says that the Saducees' problem was that "they neither know the Scriptures nor the power of God".
As I recalled that insightful statement I wondered if this might be a key to unlocking the mystery of the human condition. Is our biggest problem that we don't know the Scriptures nor the power of God?
The people of Israel seem to manifest at least part of those symptoms. They have just seen God open the Red Sea and walk them through, and at the same time destroying the army of Pharoah. Yet now as they walk through the desert and experience thirst, instead of looking to their majestic God they begin grumbling against their human leader. Could this situation have looked differently had the people looked to the power of God? And yet over and over again the people of Israel showed their lack of trust in a God who daily showed Himself to be an able provider (remember the manna?).
In light of this, a good question to ask is, "Am I evidencing the traits of the human condtion? Am I showing a lack of knowledge of the Word and belief in the power of God?"
As I read through Paul's great passage in 2 Corinthians 5 today I saw wonderful truths that spoke to the power of God as well. These bodies of ours are decaying. Paul says they are groaning, but one day the Lord will exert His power and transform these bodies. We will put on our heavenly bodies. The mortal will be swallowed up with immortality. (What a demonstration of the power of God!) Accompanying these future realities, Paul says, is the truth of a coming judgment when the Lord will award to us our due.
Now I must ask myself "Am I living in light of these realities?" Paul was. He said these truths compelled Him to no longer live for himself but for the One (Christ) who died for him. He said he now lives compelled by the love of Christ, seeking at all times to live out His calling as an ambassador of Christ. If I know these things and if I believe in the power of God to not only transform our physical bodies, but also our very lives, will I not live as Paul lived? Will I not by the power of Christ within me, no longer live for myself but for Christ? Will I not warn others of their need to be reconciled through Christ to God? And will I not approach aging and death with a fearless perspective?
Your answer to the above questions will give you insight into how much the human condition still exercises sway in your life. If you see that it does more than you would like don't resort to that insight by redoubling your efforts,... Instead keep yourself saturated in the Word believing in God's power to lift you above the human condition. The Word tells us that He is powerful to do so! Let us all look to that power today!